COVERAGE NOW ON A BIG DAY FOR THE BIG HATS IN SALINAS. THE LANDMARK SCULPTURE IS BACK IN ITS PLACE TONIGHT. ACTION NEWS REPORTER MICHELLE IMPERATO WAS THERE FOR THE FINAL DAY OF INSTALLATION.### NAT SOUND MOVING HATS IT'S THE DAY MANY IN THIS COMMUNITY HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR NAT SOUND MOVING HATS THE DAY THE BELOVED "HATS IN THREE STAGES OF LANDING" IS FULLY RESTORED AND REINSTALLED NEXT TO THE RODEO GROUNDS AT SHERWOOD PARK. AND TO HELP MARK THE DAY... THE WORLD RENOWNED ARTIST WHO CREATED THE PIECE, CLAES OLDENBURG,CAME BACK TO SALINAS TO SEE HIS WORK ... 5:38-50 it's always good to see them fresh. They had developed a presence as the years go by and in the end theres nothing like them CLAES AND HIS WIFE CAME UP WITH THE CONCEPT FOR THE SCULPTURE AFTER VISITING SALINAS... THEY NOTICED HATS WERE A COMMON TREND AMONG WORKERS, RESIDENTS AND THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE... AND FELT THE THREE HATS WERE A PERFECT REPRESENTATION OF SALINAS AND ITS AGRICULTURAL HISTORY. 5:13-33 one thing we thought of was that it might be thrown out of the sands and it would go through that little hole there between the trees and it would land where it's landed. It would be the same hat but you'd see it at three stages as it came down. It would be like a plane or a bird landing. THE HATS WERE INSTALLED IN 1982 AND AS THE YEARS PASSED... THEY BECAME WEATHERED AND WERE IN NEED OF MAJOR REPAIR ... IN APRIL THE 3 HATS WERE SHIPPED OF TO KREYSLER AND ASSOCIATES NEAR NAPA 15:03-13 we had all the old paint stripped, people may remember it was covered in graffitti and moss and things like that/... And stripped them, sand blasted them and sent them out to be repainted. THIS WAS NO SMALL JOB... EACH HAT ALONE WEIGHS ABOUT 2,310 POUNDS... THE PROJECT WAS ESTIMATED TO COST AROUND 190 THOUSAND DOLLARS. A LARGE CHUNK OF WHICH WAS USED TO REMOVE AND PROPERLY DISPOSE OF THE OLD LEAD PAINT. THAT INCLUDED THE ENTIRE RESTORATION AND REPLACING THE FOUNDATION AND SUPPORT COLUMNS AND TRANSPORTATION. OLDENBURG HIMSELF DONATED ROUGHLY 45 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN SALINAS MICHELLE IMPERATO KSBW ACTION NEWS 8. AND FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE REST OF THE WEEK'S EVENTS SURROUNDING THE BIG HATS YOU CAN VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT KSBW DOT COM.###